Former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song has won the third league title of his career after helping AS Arta/Solar7 defend their Djiboutian Premier League crown.
The 34-year-old's side won the title following a 12-1 win against Arhiba on Saturday. AS Arta/Solar7 opened up an unassailable 10-point gap over Arta in second with that result. "Thanks guys, we did a great job," wrote Song on Instagram as he posed with the trophy.
Song joined AS Arta/Solar7 in November 2020 and helped them become champions of Djibouti, a small country in East Africa, in his first season. Fellow established internationals Alain Traore, Carlos Kameni and Diafra Sakho also play for the club.
Song is best known for his seven-year spell at Arsenal, making more than 200 appearances in all competitions to earn a move to Barcelona in the summer of 2012. He only spent two seasons in Catalonia but still won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup.
"During my entire time at Arsenal I couldn't even save £100,000, while people thought I must be a millionaire," said Song on his Arsenal exit in 2021. "When Barcelona offered me a contract, and I saw how much I would earn, I didn't think twice.
"I felt my wife and children should have comfortable lives once my career is over. I met Barca's sporting director, and he told me I would not get to play many games. But I didn't give a f*** - I knew that now I would become a millionaire.
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"I'll always say that a 20-year-old who drives a Ferrari is a poor man, as at that age he's not yet achieved anything. But a man of 50 who drives a Bentley is a man to be respected."
Song, who won 49 caps for Cameroon, also enjoyed Premier League loan spells at Charlton and West Ham before joining Russian giants Rubin Kazan in the summer of 2016. After two seasons there, he joined Swiss outfit Sion before being released in March 2020.
The midfielder and his former Arsenal team-mate Johan Djourou were both let go by Sion for refusing to take a pay cut during at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It's believed the club's president asked the entire playing staff to take a reduced salary.
Nine players were released by Sion. The Swiss Players Union called them "abusive terminations" and Song appealed to FIFA about the decision. "We were supposed to meet with the president on Monday [in March 2020], then on Tuesday, he said," recalled Song.
"We had no news. We received a WhatsApp message on Tuesday afternoon to tell us that everyone had to sign a paper telling us that we were being lowered our wages, that we were going to be paid around €12,000 (around £10,000).
"We were to return the paper the next day at noon. We received this document without explanation... I did not make any professional misconduct. All the clubs talk to their players to find solutions. We do not understand what happened. No one can understand."
But he has now found success at his new home and is celebrating his latest league title triumph.
